Memory of Mankind

Hallstatt (German: [ˈhalʃtat] ) is a small town in the district of Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Salzkammergut region, on the national road linking Salzburg and Graz. Hallstatt is known for its production of salt, dating back to prehistoric times, and gave its name to the Hallstatt culture, the archaeological culture linked to Proto-Celtic and early Celtic people of the Early Iron Age in Europe, c. 800–450 BC. Hallstatt is at the core of the Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape declared as one of the World Heritage Sites in Austria by UNESCO in 1997. It is an area of overtourism.

The Hallstatt Museum (German: Museum Hallstatt) is a museum in Hallstatt, Upper Austria, that has an unrivalled collection of discoveries from the local salt mines and from the cemeteries of Iron Age date near to the mines, which have made Hallstatt the type site for the important Hallstatt culture. The museum is close to the Hallstättersee, below the salt mines on the mountainside. The museum, the salt mines, and the Dachstein Ice Cave are designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since 2002 the museum has occupied the former Hallstatt parsonage, and the previous holdings of the museum have been reunited with many of the objects which had previously been on display at the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna.

The Hirlatzhöhle is a cave in the Dachstein massif in the municipality of Hallstatt in the Upper Austrian part of the Salzkammergut. The total length of the cave known to date is over 115 km. It is therefore the third longest cave in Austria and, at 1559 m deep, the second deepest cave in Austria. The deepest point is at 443 m above sea level and therefore 65 m below the water level of the nearby Hallstättersee. It is the 21st longest cave in the world.

Hallstätter See or Lake Hallstatt is a lake in Salzkammergut, Austria. It is named after Hallstatt, a small market town famous for its salt mining since prehistoric times and for being the starting point of the world's oldest still-working industrial pipeline, used to transport brine to Bad Ischl (since 1596) and further to Ebensee. Since about 1970/1980 the only ship-mail-line of Austria crossed the lake from the railway on the east shore to the town in the west. In winters the road on the west shore tended to be blocked by high snow or the risk of avalanches. When the ice on the lake was thick enough, a sled pulled by men or horses, later a motorized track vehicle was used to transport mail and persons. Later a tunneled road was built through Hallstatt and the mail switched to transport by bus and truck. Its surface is approximately 8.55 km2 (3.30 sq mi) and its maximum depth is 125 metres. It is a popular destination for tourists, especially scuba divers. The fixed exit weir, a 500-year old protected monument, has no bypass and therefore caused the flooding of several houses in Hallstatt on 18 June 2013.

Obertraun, Upper Austria (Austrian German: [ˈoːbɐˌtʁaʊ̯n]) is a village in the Salzkammergut, a region in Austria, near the Hallstätter See (Hallstatt Lake) and Hoher Dachstein. It is a popular holiday destination with activities such as skiing and snowboarding in the winter, and mountain biking, swimming and kayaking in the summer.

The Dachstein Mountains (German: Dachsteingebirge) are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps. The term is used by the Austrian Alpine Club in its classification of the Eastern Alps as one of the 24 sub-ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps (AVE No. 14). The Dachstein range includes: The Dachstein Massif proper with its highest peak, the Hoher Dachstein (2,995 m (AA)) Grimming (2,351 m above sea level (AA)) in the east to the upper Styrian Enns valley Sarstein (1,975 m above sea level (AA)) in the north at the other bank of the River Traun

The Taubenkogel is a 2,301-metre (7,549 ft) high peak in the Dachstein Mountains of Upper Austria, northeast of the Hallstätter Glacier. It can be reached from the summit station of the Dachstein Cable Car on the Gjaidalm or from the Simony Hut. In good weather there is a fine view from the summit of the Hoher Dachstein, the Gjaidstein and the Hallstätter Glacier.

The Dachstein Chapel (German: Dachsteinkapelle) is located immediately next to the Simony Hut in the Dachstein Mountains. It lies at a height of 2,206 metres (7,238 ft) and is the highest place of worship in the Northern Limestone Alps. It is located within the municipality area of Hallstatt in the district of Gmunden (Upper Austria) in Austria. It belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Linz and is a cultural heritage monument.

The Simony Hut (German: Simonyhütte) is an Alpine club hut belonging to the Austrian Alpine Club (OeAV) located at a height of 2,205 metres, just below the Hallstätter Glacier at the foot of the Hoher Dachstein in Austria. The hut, named after Friedrich Simony, the first person to ascend Hoher Dachstein, is situated high above Hallstatt in the northern part of the Dachstein Mountains. It is open year-round and, in winter, offers numerous options for ski tours and snowshoeing.The Simony Hut is an important base for climbers because they are able to set out from here on long tours over the Dachsteins. There is also a mountaineering school where training courses are run for glacier or ice climbing. The Dachstein Chapel is nearby.

The Upper and Lower Eissee are two lakes in the Dachstein Mountains in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. They lie north of a 2,794 metres (9,167 ft) high mountain, the Gjaidstein, at an elevation of around 2,000 metres (6,600 ft).

5 Fingers is a free viewing platform in the Dachstein Mountains of Upper Austria, on Mount Krippenstein. It was named "5 Fingers" by virtue of its hand-like shape. The individual ‘fingers’, which are approximately 4 m (13 ft) long fingers, are built over a precipice of about 400 m (1,300 ft) depth. The viewing platform is less than a 20-minute walk from the Krippenstein Station of the Dachstein cable car line.

Pötschen Pass (el. 993 m.) is a high mountain pass in the Austrian Alps between the Bundesländer of Upper Austria and Styria.